Various product packaging designs employ closures with one or more barriers or seals across an opening to the package. Such seals can serve as primary or secondary barriers to contaminant ingress. Such seals may also maintain product freshness. In addition, such seals may provide a tamper-indicating function wherein breaking or removing the seal provides evidence that the package has been opened.
Examples of a closure with an internal tamper-indicating seal are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,948,003 and 4,807,769. These types of closures include a base for mounting the closure to the container. The base includes a pour spout. The pour spout is initially occluded by a sealing disk or member. The periphery of the sealing disk defines a reduced cross-sectional thickness of material which functions as a frangible web connecting the sealing disk to a radially outward region of material. An exterior portion of the sealing disk may include a pull tab which is grasped by a user's fingers for ripping the sealing disk out of the pour spout. The closure also includes a hinged lid with an internal collar to telescopically receive the pour spout in sealing engagement when the lid is closed so as to provide a liquid-tight and airtight system after the sealing disk has been removed.
While closures of the above-discussed type may function generally satisfactorily in applications for which they are intended, it would desirable to provide an improved closure with enhanced features.
For example, some containers, such as jars for peanut butter and other such paste-like products, typically have a relatively wide mouth. It would be desirable to provide an improved closure which could extend over the wide mouth of such a container and which would have a lid that could be opened and closed to permit access to the container interior.
Further, it would be desirable if such an improved closure could include means for retaining the lid with the closure when the lid is open. Further, it would be advantageous if such an improved closure could include means for providing tamper-indication that would furnish evidence that the lid has been opened or at least that could provide evidence of tampering with the lid.
Some types of containers, especially containers designed for food products or pharmaceutical products, include a thin, flat paper or film liner secured to the top of the container across the mouth of the container. The liner must be broken and/or removed in order to permit the container contents to be accessed. Such a liner has a tamper-indicating function. Such a liner also serves to prevent contaminant ingress and maintain product freshness. It would be desirable to provide an improved closure which could accommodate the use of such a liner initially on the container and which could, after removal of the liner, provide a re-sealing function. Preferably, such an improved closure should accommodate the use of existing liner technology.
Also, it would be desirable if such an improved closure could be provided with a design that would accommodate efficient, high quality, large volume manufacturing techniques with a reduced product reject rate.
Further, such an improved closure should advantageously accommodate its use with a variety of conventional containers having a variety of conventional container finishes, such as conventional threaded or snap-fit attachment configurations. Such an improved closure design should also optionally accommodate the incorporation of the closure as a unitary part of the container.
The present invention provides an improved closure which can accommodate designs having the above-discussed benefits and features.